Ruud Jolie might be known for his guitar role in Within Temptation, but the dude works as a teacher at Holland's school for heavy metal Metal Factory. The school is still in its first year of existence but things seem to be going well!
"It is brand new, actually. This is the first year. It is really cool! We have 23 students and vocals, bass, guitar and drums. The school is not just about playing music, it's also entrepreneurship: the management side, booking, merchandising… also history and music theory. We just started in September and I think one of the most valuable lessons is to make mistakes. My music theory class is the only class where creativity won't be appreciated because music theory is about facts, scales and chords."
Jolie goes on to explain that while scales are taught, there's certainly an emphasis on teaching kids the basics of heavy metal and building on that.
"I usually start by explaining the major scale. We all know that we have the C, D, E, F… The tritone is also called the devil's tone… a very dissonant sounding thing but it is a great way to be all dark and to be all Satan. It really works and I think Black Sabbath really opened up some doors with that sound. There are a lot of bands that use it like Slayer. Metal, in general, likes to use that evil-sounding interval."
I'm pretty sure we need a school like this here in the United States! That would be amazing! Plus we already have one person who would be more than stoked on teaching at it- Down vocalist Phil Anselmo!
"I would absolutely do it! I grew up and saw the whole shebang grow into what it is today. I could be a professor for a day, for sure. Absolutely."
Jolie, if you're reading this, you know where to expand to next.
[via Fuse]
